


you're my violet in the sun

by PickleJuice (the_joxters)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ADHD Lance, Autistic Keith, Fix-It, Internalized Biphobia, M/M, Trans Male Character, alcohol use, background Adashi, background hallura, bisexuality arc, trans keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:03:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_joxters/pseuds/PickleJuice
Summary: Season 7 AU where the Voltron team gets back to Earth about six months before the Galra do. While Shiro, Coran, Allura, and Romelle handle most of the preparations for Earth's defense, Lance finds himself with a lot for free time to make some realizations about himself that come from unexpected people.





	you're my violet in the sun

**Author's Note:**

> In case you didn't read the tags:
> 
> Lance has heterochromia (one blue eye, one brown eye) and ADHD. Keith is autistic and trans. These are both canon, VLD just forgot

**Past**

“Kogane, Akira.”

“My name is Keith.” Lance glanced over towards the back of the room, where the boy in question had his arms crossed.  _ His name is blue, _ Lance thought absentmindedly, rolling his pencil up and down his desk, tendrils of Keith’s blue and gold name trailing it _. Maybe more indigo than blue. _ The name Akira was purple- it looked like faint petals above his head. 

“It says your name is Akira on the sheet,” the teacher said flatly, staring at him over her glasses.  _ What’s the point of wearing glasses if you don’t look through them? _ Lance’s pencil went too far on its side and stopped rolling.

“My name is Keith,” he repeated, and she didn’t say anything else. She just wrote something on her paper and moved on. 

A few other students were called. “McClain, Leandro.”

“I go by Lance,” he said, and this time she simply pursed her lips and made a note. 

Most of his classmates’ names were varying shades of brown. Keith didn’t talk to anyone else for the rest of the day. Lance wanted to go over and say hello, but he got the feeling Keith didn’t share his sentiment. He was staring out the window the entire period.

That was the first time he saw Keith.

  
  


**Present**

“So we’re going back to Earth.”

“Yeah,” Shiro says. He and Keith are in the observatory, stargazing. “But we can’t stay.”

“No,” Keith agrees, “we can’t.” He glances at Shiro. “Are you ready to see Adam?”

“I don’t know,” Shiro whispers, and he sounds almost  _ broken. _ “It’s been years, Keith. He said he wouldn’t  be there when I got back. It’s been three  _ years _ .” Shiro takes a deep breath. “He might have... moved on.”

“Sam would’ve told him-”

“Adam might’ve moved on before then,” Shiro interrupts, still not looking at Keith. “He might have a husband or a wife now.”

“You were  _ engaged _ .”

“ _ Were _ ,” Shiro says, thumping his shoulder against the glass and closing his eyes. “I can’t expect him to have waited for me.”

“Do you really think anyone could move on from you?” Keith crosses his arms. “Shiro,  _ look _ at yourself. Adam is literally what kept you  _ alive _ in Zarkon’s arena and has been your drive this entire war. Do you  _ really _ think he doesn’t feel the same way?”

Shiro finally looks at him with a tiny smile. “I don’t know,” he says truthfully. “But I’d rather think he’s moved on when he hasn’t than think he hasn’t when he’s moved on. Get some sleep, okay, Keith?”

He doesn’t give Keith the chance to argue. Shiro leaves him alone in the observatory. 

  
  


“We are only a few dobashes away from landing,” Allura says, facing the other paladins. She, Shiro, and Coran had been in the communications room talking to Sam. “We have established a landing point near the Garrison. Your families are waiting for you.”

“Our families?” Lance asks. 

“Katie’s, Hunk’s, and yours,” Allura clarifies, pointing to each of them in turn. 

Keith glances at Shiro. His expression is carefully neutral. Keith’s gut twists. “So,” Keith said. “What’s the first thing we’re doing when we land?”

“Uh, seeing our families?” Lance asks, like it was obvious. Keith frowns and looks at Shiro again. 

“We’re just going to have the rest of the day to get acclimated,” Shiro says. He’s good at not betraying any of his feelings. It’s a skill Keith wishes he had.  _ Or maybe you’re just really bad at reading people. _ “Tomorrow we’ll start with properly preparing Earth’s defenses with the Garrison and other locations around the world.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hunk says, rubbing his hands together. “I can’t wait to see my moms. And my uncle. Oh, and my nieces and nephews-”

Keith tunes them out. He misses Adam- he misses Adam a  _ lot _ . Pidge is telling Allura about her dog, and how Allura is going to love Colleen. Keith stands up and walks over to Shiro. “Was Adam there?”

“No,” Shiro says tightly. “I didn’t see him and I didn’t want to ask.” His jaw clenches and unclenches. 

Keith doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything. 

  
  


Lance is the first person out of the car.

“Lance!” A girl jumps on his back and another boy is hugging his leg. They’re all talking at once, and Keith can see tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. There are at least eight people standing around Lance, four of which who like like his siblings. 

Lance hugs them as best he can with two kids hanging off of him. The one who looks exactly like him is holding a baby. Keith pets Kosmo while pretending he’s not listening. “I missed you a lot, Rachel,” Lance says to her.

“I know,” she says, and she’s smiling. 

“Can I hold him?” Lance asks, pointing at the bundle in her arms. 

“Of course,” Rachel says, and she shifts so the baby is safely tucked into Lance’s arms. 

Lance laughs softly to himself and out of the corner of his eye, Keith sees him look at her again. “What’s his name?”

Rachel laughs, but it sounds choked, like she’s about to cry instead. “We decided on it before we knew if you were ever going to come home. His name is Leandro.”

Keith glances up and sees Lance’s expression shatter. Keith’s heart drops. Lance missed the birth of a nephew, a nephew that was named after  _ him _ . Keith turns away and walks to stand with Shiro, Krolia, and Kosmo. He doesn’t miss the way Shiro’s shoulders are sagging.

“Do you want to go lie down? Sanda or Iverson can probably find you somewhere,” Keith says.

“Yeah,” Shiro says, sighing. He scratches the back of his neck. “You coming with?” Shiro’s voice blurs out and Keith looks over his shoulder, eyes widening.

Someone is standing behind Shiro, and Keith feels the world stop, he feels dizzy, because that’s  _ him _ , that’s his other brother, someone who was his  _ best friend- _

“Takashi?”

It feels like a punch in the gut, really. Keith hears his voice and despite the fact that it’s been three years, 

he recognizes it.

Shiro’s head whips around so fast Keith’s scared his neck will break. He hears the way Shiro’s voice cracks when he says,  _ “Adam.” _

Shiro isn’t next to him anymore; he’s practically sprinted to Adam, and Keith can see Shiro bury himself in Adam’s shoulder, almost  _ sobbing _ . 

He can feel the warning pinpricks of tears in the corner of his eyes. He walks over to them, and they don’t stop hugging for a long time. 

“I thought you died,” Adam says, voice breaking. 

“You kept me alive when I was in the pits,” Shiro whispers. 

Keith can see something behind Adam’s eyes break.  _ He doesn’t know what the gladiator pits are _ , Keith thinks. Instead of asking, Adam says, “I love you.”

Shiro kisses him.

Keith doesn’t think Shiro means to, and Adam looks shocked for all of one second before he kisses back. 

Adam pulls away and says, “I’m sorry for what I said before you left. I didn’t mean it.”

“But you were right,” Shiro says. He laughs wryly. It’s then that Adam rakes his eyes over Shiro, taking in the white hair and the scar and the  _ arm- _

“Takashi,” he says, barely above a whisper, “what happened to you?”

Shiro smiles grimly. “Let’s save that for later.”

Adam looks like he wants to protest, but instead he turns to Keith. “You know how much shit I went through when you got kicked out?” He says it lightly, teasingly, but Keith  _ knows _ how much it hurt. And seeing that Adam was his only legal guardian at that time, he was most likely reprimanded heavily for Keith’s behavior that led to his expulsion.

Keith winces. He remembers Shiro’s funeral. He remembers having only Adam to really understand what he was going through- someone else who had lost family, not an idol or a colleague. “I’m sorry.” He wants to say more.  _ Not now. _

Suddenly remembering his mother behind him, he gestures her over and looks at Adam. “This is… my mom. Krolia.”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “You’re half… not human?”

Keith’s jaw flexes. “Galra.”

“I see.” Adam’s voice is soft.  _ (Of course he knows. He knows what the Galra are. Sam’s been here for months. He knows what they did to Shiro.) _ But did he even know the whole story? Sam wasn’t in the gladiator pits,  _ he _ doesn’t even know the full extent of what Shiro went through-

Krolia doesn’t extend her hand. Maybe she thinks Adam doesn’t want to shake it. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Finally?” Adam asks, looking between Keith and Shiro.

“We talked about Earth a lot,” Shiro explains. His breath hitches. “I talked about you a lot.”

Adam looks like he’s about to start crying again, so Keith says, “Can we go inside?”

“Yeah,” Adam says, not looking away from Shiro’s face. “I can take you guys there.”

  
  


Lance’s head is swimming. 

Veronica shows him where his room is, right next to the rest of the paladins. “We figured you guys would want to stay close,” she says. 

“Thanks, Veronica,” Lance answers, staring at his door. The weight of the day has fully settled on his shoulders.  _ I’m home. _ Veronica and the rest of his family are on campus. They’re  _ close _ .

“Are you all right?” She asks. The sincerity in her voice in unmistakable. And somehow, she was always the one to pull the truth out of him even when Rachel couldn’t.

“I missed Rachel giving birth.”

“She doesn’t blame you, Lance.” Veronica sounds tired. “No one does.”

“I do.”

“ _ Leandro _ .” Veronica’s voice cracks.

“Veronica,” he says, and she freezes because he sounds so broken. “I’ve  _ killed _ people.”

The words have been weighing him down for years. She’s not sure what to say for a moment. “Galra and sentries, yes,” she answers carefully.

“People, too,” Lance says. He looks  _ crushed _ . “Collateral damage. I have killed  _ people _ .”

“You’ve  _ saved _ people, too,” she says, and she seems desperate to comfort him (but she doesn’t know  _ how _ ). “You’ve saved a lot of people. You might save everyone on Earth with Voltron. You’re a  _ hero _ , Leandro.”

“I wish I didn’t have to be,” he murmurs. 

“I wish you didn’t have to be, too,” she says quietly, squeezing his arm. “Please, Leandro... get some sleep tonight. We have the meeting tomorrow. I think it’s going to be... draining.”

“It will be,” he says, and they both say goodnight to each other. 

  
  


Adam has to leave the conference room.

It’s abrupt, the way he stands up. Shiro immediately stops talking, watching him with careful eyes. “I need to go,” Adam says tightly, and he walks out of the room, leaving silence behind.

_ Adam _ , Lance thinks to himself.  _ Gold. _ It shimmers next to the door he disappeared behind.

Shiro had been explaining how he and Matt were in the gladiator pits and how he lost his arm. He looks upset, now, and Keith knows he wants to go talk to Adam, so he says, “You don’t have to finish, Shiro.”

“How else are we going to know what happened?” Griffin says hotly. 

Keith glares at him, and his mind unhelpfully supplies him with memories of Griffin’s bullying. “We don’t  _ owe _ you the backstory. You only need to know what they can do and how we plan on stopping them.”

“Keith,” Allura says, and he doesn’t really blame her, because she doesn’t know how many times Griffin has landed him in the office for things he didn’t start.

“No, Princess, it’s okay,” Lance says, waving a hand. “Griffin’s an asshole.”

“ _ Excuse _ me?” Griffin stands up, glaring. “Do all the paladins lack discipline, or-”

“Shut up,” Keith says flatly. “You’re a bully and a piece of shit. You haven’t said anything constructive this entire meeting and I doubt you have anything of use to contribute. So for the love of God, just  _ shut up _ .”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Kogane, for someone who’s-”

“Griffin, stop being a fucking prick and listen to the people trying to save your planet,” Lance says, glaring at him.

“We can save it ourselves,” Griffin says venomously, and it’s obvious he didn’t think about it before he spoke because-

“Really?” Lance says coolly, staring him down. “You think Earth, with the eight months of preparation its had, stands a chance against the Galra empire, which has been ruling for 10,000 years? The pyramids were built 5,000 years ago, Griffin. We’ve had about 500 years of modern technology. Grow the  _ fuck _ up and sit down.”

Griffin sits down. For a moment, the conference room is dead silent.

Shiro clears his throat. “I’m going to check on him- on Adam.”

He walks out and Allura stands up. “Well,” she says. “That could’ve gone better.” She’s frowning. She and Coran talk from there, and Keith ignores Griffin’s pointed glare, opting to devote his attention to Allura and Coran instead. He can’t focus anyway. He can’t stop thinking about every time Griffin had thrown a slur at him or said something about his dead parents. He’s impressed, really, that he didn’t completely shut down. 

When the meeting finally ends, Keith is out of there, trying to think of where Adam and Shiro would’ve gone, realizing they probably wanted to be alone, and wondering where the  _ fuck _ he was supposed to go if the castle observatory wasn’t an option. 

He goes into his room and slumps against his door, letting a long breath out. He crawls into his bed- he deserves a nap. 

He wakes up hours later, ribs aching because he forgot to take off his binder before passing out. He wiggles out of it and pulls on a sweatshirt, breathing deeply.

He looks at the time (1 in the morning) and jolts, because he should really thank Lance- Lance, who stood up for him, and he appreciates it so much but he feels so stupid at the same time because he is  _ twenty-one years old he should be able to handle this shit by himself _ -

Walking through the hall, he’s thinking that maybe Lance is asleep and he shouldn’t wake him up when he rounds the corner too fast and bumps into another person. “Oh,” he says, and Lance looks a little bewildered. “There you are.”

“Here I am?” Lance says, tilting his head and smiling nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. He does that a lot. “Were you looking for me?”

“Yes,” Keith says. He’s a little embarrassed by how quickly he says it. “I mean- well. Yeah. I was. I wanted to say thank you.”

Lance frowns. “For what?”

“For-” Keith hesitates.  _ Find the words. _ He’s never been good with thank yous, or apologies, or talking, really, but- “For what you said to Griffin. He  _ is _ an asshole.”

Lance’s lips quirk. “Oh yeah, that. Well, he went after me and Hunk when you… left. And he tried to make a move on my sister.”

“Oh,” Keith says, and he feels a little awkward now, because Lance didn’t do it for him ( _ of course he didn’t, it’s not like he’s in love with you back, _ snarks the voice in the back of his head), he did it for his family and his best friend.

“I wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t a dick to you, though,” Lance says. “Him getting pissy at you was the last straw.”

“Well, thanks,” Keith says, and he feels less embarrassed now, even a little pleased.  _ That went well. _

“His name is ugly anyway,” Lance says dismissively, waving his hand. 

“James is a pretty common name,” Keith says, frowning.

“No,” Lance says, shaking his head, smiling a little. Keith doesn’t know why he’s smiling- he didn’t say anything funny. “I mean the color. It’s like a muddy yellow-green.”

“Oh,” Keith says, feeling a little foolish. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lance says. “I was going to the kitchen. Do you wanna come with?”

Keith blinks. “To the kitchen?”

“Yeah,” Lance says, grinning, walking past Keith now, tugging on his wrist. “We haven’t had real  _ Earth _ food in years, Keith. I want to toast a strawberry Pop-Tart.”

_ Pop-Tarts sound good, _ Keith thinks, so he says, “Okay,” and lets Lance lead him to the kitchen.

  
  


**Past**

“What color is my name?”

Lance looked up. “What?”

“My name,” Keith said. “I never asked you. What color is it?”

They were sitting in the observatory a couple days after Shiro had gone missing and Lance had mentioned that Hunk’s name being yellow was so fitting. He explained he had synesthesia, and told Pidge that Katie was orange but Pidge was green. Allura’s name was silvery-blue. Coran’s was yellow, but sharper and more saturated than Hunk’s, not quite so pastel. 

“Oh,” Lance said, and he smiled sheepishly. “Do you mean Keith or Akira?”

“Both,” Keith said, shrugging. 

“Akira is indigo,” Lance said. “A reddish-indigo, if that makes sense. It looks like flower petals. And Keith is blue. Really, really blue, like deep, with a little bit of gold. It’s my favorite color, actually.”

(Keith knew it was stupid, but he blushed anyway.  _ It doesn’t mean he likes you back _ , he thought to himself, and he was right.)

  
  


**Present**

“There’s Mac and Cheese in here,” Lance says, reaching up to the top shelf. “Do you think we’ll get in trouble if we make it right now?”

“We’re literally the defenders of the universe,” Keith scoffs. “They can’t do shit if they don’t like it.”

Lance thinks about that for a moment. He shrugs and starts boiling water. “You’re right,” he says, digging around the refrigerator and pulling out a bag of shredded cheese. “I really can’t wait for Iverson to get pissed at me so I can pull the Voltron card.”

“Like you did with Griffin?”

“Exactly like I did with Griffin,” Lance confirms. He walks over to Keith to join him where he’s sitting on the counter. 

Lance feels warm in his stomach when Keith bumps his shoulder and smiles at him.

  
  


“Thank you again,” Keith says quietly, looking a little more straight ahead and not as upwards as he used to. Lance misses having the extra two inches on him, but if Keith grew at 18 years old, Lance definitely could get to 6’1.  _ You just have to drink a lot of milk. _

He wants to say,  _ It’s okay, it’s fine, I wanted to anyway _ , but the truth was that Griffin getting mad at Keith was what set him off. He could play nice with Griffin despite him hitting on Veronica and targeting both him and Hunk. It was Griffin losing it on Keith that had him opening his mouth and talking before he even realized he was reprimanding Griffin like a ten-year-old.

He chalked it up to being defensive of his friends. He ignored any thoughts that said otherwise.

They talked aimlessly for the next hour. Lance made Mac and Cheese and toasted Pop-Tarts. He’s glad, really, that he’s getting closer with Keith. What’s a black paladin without their right-hand man?

  
  


Lance is reading a book in the lounge when Adam and Shiro come in.  _ Gold and orange cream, _ he thinks. Shiro has heavy bags under his eyes, and Adam looks tense. Lance wonders if Shiro had nightmares. It wouldn’t surprise him. They all did. More than once, Lance had walked around the castle at night and found someone else trying to get their mind off night terrors.

The two of them sit on the couch, where Adam turns on the TV and watches a random news channel while Shiro falls asleep with his head in Adam’s lap.

It tugs at Lance’s heartstrings. He feels inexplicably jealous. He keeps reading until the jealousy twists his gut too harshly and he has to leave. He doesn’t know what he’s jealous  _ of _ .

Neither of them see him go. They’ve both fallen asleep.

  
  


“Hey, Adam.”

Adam looks surprised to find Keith in the Garrison library. “Oh, hi, Keith.”

“Adam, I’m-” Keith’s breath catches in his throat and he looks away. He’d just spent the last hour practicing what he was going to say, but he  _ still _ manages to stumble. “I’m sorry. For- you know- getting kicked. From here.”

Adam takes note of Keith’s crossed arms. It’s a moment before he answers. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Keith says insistently, dropping his arms and clenching his fists at his sides. He takes a deep breath and reminds himself not to get upset. “You were… the only other person who knew what I was going through. I lost a brother, you… lost a fiancé. And I got kicked less than a week later. I  _ know _ we weren’t as close-”

“Keith.” Adam interrupts him and reaches a hand out to rest on his shoulder. “You were like my little brother. It hurt when I lost you.”

And  _ God _ , that hurt so much more than it should’ve. Keith’s breath hitches and he blinks a million times because he thinks he might cry. “I’m  _ sorry _ , Adam.”

“I said it’s okay,” Adam says softly. He hesitates before holding out his arms. Keith has never liked hugs much- people did them wrong, either too tight or too loose or just  _ unbearable _ \- but Adam and Shiro knew how to hug him so he wraps his arms around Adam’s waist and does his best not to openly sob.

Because it had hurt when he lost Adam, too. 

  
  


Lance sits in Veronica’s room with her while she flips between channels. It’s peaceful, it feels nice, it’s  _ familiar _ .

“Lance,” she says, “when was the last time you got an Adderall refill?”

“Uh,” he says, not having expected that in the least, “about… three years ago?”

She blows a strand of hair out of her face. “Do you want to go to the med bay and see if they can get you another prescription?”

“Not right now,” he says, and he’s racking his brain, trying to think of something else to say. “What happened to Alex?”

She stares at him like she has no idea who he’s talking about. Her eyes widen and she says, “Oh my god, you mean my boyfriend from  _ three years ago _ ?”

“Uh,” he says, “yeah? I mean, look at Shiro and Adam. They’re still together. Is it really that unreasonable to think you would be, too?”

“Um, yes,” Veronica says, and she’s smiling like she’s about to deliver a punchline that will leave Lance reeling. “Because I’m a lesbian, Lance. I’m gay.”

And  _ wow _ , Lance was not expecting that. _ “What?” _

“I like girls,” Veronica says, more slowly. “You know Allura? The space princess you’ve been travelling with for three years?  _ Wow _ .”

“Yes, I know her,” Lance scoffs, and he’s trying to think straight because  _ Veronica is a lesbian and I never had any idea. _ “But she and Hunk are, like… a thing.”

“I’m not surprised,” Veronica says. “I may be gay, but I can recognize an attractive guy when I see one.”

“Yeah,” Lance says, because he’s platonically appreciated Hunk more than once. Without his permission, Keith comes to mind, too. “So… everyone’s okay with it?”

“Me being a lesbian?”

“Yeah. Mom, Dad, Abuelita, Marco, Luis-”

“Yes, Lance,” Veronica interrupts, and she looks a little confused. “Why wouldn’t they be? I mean, yeah, obviously it was hard to come out at first, but it became easier as I came out to more people, and I haven’t really been met with any hate except my own internalized homophobia.”

“Internalized?”

“Like, only for me,” she says patiently. “I was fine with my friends who were LGBT, but I spent a long time thinking it was  _ not _ okay for  _ only _ me.”

“Oh,” Lance says, and something about her words is  _ really tugging at him but what the fuck and why _ , so he says, “Girlfriends, then?”

“Yep,” Veronica says, grinning. “Nadia. She was in your class. She’s been travelling, though, going to other cities to aid preparation. She’ll be back in a week or so.”

“Nadia…” Her name is a bright, happy yellow. “Nadia Rizavi?”

“That’s the one,” Veronica says proudly. “I miss her. I can’t wait for you to meet her- well, a second time.”

“Everyone was okay with you being gay?”

“Yeah,” she says, and she gives him a slightly worried look. Not in an,  _ Are you the one who’s not okay with it? _ , but in a  _ Why is this such a concern for you is something wrong _ kind of way.

“Good,” he says. The back of his throat feels itchy. “None of your teachers or bosses gave you shit for it, right?”

“Nope.” She’s practically beaming. “Then again, I don’t think a lot of people knew until Nadia and I started dating.”

“Yeah, I think that’d be what sells it,” Lance says, laughing a little. 

They lapse into a comfortable silence and finish the show.

  
  


Voltron doesn’t have much to do right yet, since the Galra haven’t made their way  to Earth and the world leaders have already come together. Coran and Shiro informed them that they would be expected to appear at certain events, but also to consider this time a break.

“Enjoy it while it lasts, paladins,” Coran says, patting Allura’s shoulder. 

Allura, Romelle, and Veronica were usually doing things together. Keith could see Romelle coming out of her shell that she’d been in when they first arrived. Pidge didn’t spend as much time with Allura as she used to, but he’d seen her braiding Allura’s hair or the two of them just talking in Pidge’s room.

He hadn’t spoken to Griffin since the conference, and from what he gathered, neither had Lance. The two of them, Pidge, and Hunk had gone to the Castle to train again, since they had nothing to do and Lance insisted on it.

“We can’t get sloppy and lazy,” he says to Pidge.

“Why are  _ you _ telling us this and not Keith? He’s the training freak,” Pidge protests. 

“Because,” Lance says, “it’s like, my job to make sure you guys are good.”

“Being black paladin doesn’t mean you have to be on our asses about training,” Hunk says. “Why’s Allura getting out of this?”

“Way to throw your girlfriend under the bus,” Lance retorts. “And it’s because I couldn’t find her. I think she and Romelle and my sister ran off somewhere again.”

Pidge frowns. Lance activates his bayard and yells, “Begin training sequence!”

He had set it up so there were three gladiators on the middle level. It was a good choice- they’re rusty, but not incapable. 

They split off into the teams they normally did- Hunk and Pidge, Keith and Lance. It felt  _ good _ to Keith, easy and natural. It reminded him of their first actual mission together on the Balmera. ( _ When you started to like him _ .) 

He ignores that thought.

Two hours later, Keith is wiping the sweat from his forehead with the front of his shirt. Pidge and Hunk are in the kitchen. Pidge claimed to  _ miss _ the food goo, which Keith… sort of understood, actually, even if the texture made his stomach churn. 

He glances at Lance. “Good workout.”

“I do my best,” Lance says, and he leans back, staring at the ceiling. A minute later, “Do you really think we can save Earth?”

“With all the preparations we’re making? I think so.” He’s not sure either of them believe it. Lance’s words from the conference ring in the back of his mind.  _ The pyramids were built five thousand years ago. The Galra Empire, which has been ruling for ten thousand years. _

Lance nods. “Shiro and Adam are really happy together.”

Keith blinks a couple times. It’s out of nowhere. “I know. I lived with them, remember?”

Lance chuckles a bit. “Yeah. When we were in what, seventh grade?”

“I think we were in the same class starting eighth grade. I was thirteen. We had two classes together.”

“You remember that specifically?” 

“Well…” Keith flushes. He’s glad Lance isn’t looking at his face. “Hard not to notice you. Especially when you were… um. Loud. You weren’t easy to ignore.”

“Oh.” Lance shifts a little and they lapse into a brief silence. “I’m… sorry. I wasn’t the nicest person to you.”

“I’m sorry for pretending I didn’t remember you,” Keith blurts before he can stop himself because he’s actually wanted to say it for a long time and he really doesn’t have  _ any _ impulse control. He watches as Lance’s eyes go comically wide.

“You  _ what _ ?”

“I mean, at first I didn’t recognize you,” Keith says hastily. “Faces are hard! But then you said you were Lance and it kind of clicked but… I didn’t…” He gestures vaguely. “You know? My last couple of years at the Garrison are fuzzy. I didn’t really differentiate classmates.”

Lance turns on the bench to face Keith. He looks serious, and Keith is a little nervous, and Lance says, “I remember the bonding moment.”

Keith’s eyes narrow and he leans back. “What?”

“The bonding moment,” Lance repeats. “I… remember it. I remembered at some point between waking up and sitting at that table, and I was really hoping you wouldn’t remember, or bring it up, and then you did and I panicked.”

“Why would you  _ panic _ ?” Keith asks, and he does nothing to mask the hurt in his voice. He knows he and Lance are okay now, they’re  _ friends _ (right?), but maybe he’s reading this entire thing wrong and they’re actually still rivals and maybe Lance is telling him he  _ doesn’t want to be friends- _

“I wasn’t emotionally ready for that, man!” Lance squeaks, and Keith just keeps staring at him because this is the boy he’s practically head over heels for, telling him  _ he wasn’t emotionally ready _ to handle their bonding moment. And Keith really has no idea what that means, he doesn’t know and he wishes Lance would spell it out for him.

“Why?” He asks, hoping Lance will clarify.

“I mean, at that point, all I really had with you was that rivalry,” Lance says, shrugging and going a little pink. “I didn’t want to flip from rivals to friends.”

“We weren’t even really rivals,” Keith protests. “I never wanted to be, anyway. I wanted to be friends.”  _ And maybe a little more,  _ his brain supplies unhelpfully. 

_ Shut up _ , he says back.

“Yeah, yeah, it was all one-sided,” Lance says, standing up and stretching. “I’m gonna hit the showers. You good?”

“Yeah,” Keith says, standing up and stretching his arms way above his head. Lance is staring at his shirt. “What?” He asks self-consciously, looking down and tugging at the hem. “Is there a stain?”

“No,” Lance says quickly, and his expression is something Keith can’t read, but he knows it’s not nothing. “See you.”

“See you,” Keith says, and he goes to the kitchen to join Hunk and Pidge.

  
  


It’s 3am.

Lance is looking at the clock. 3 is green. Dark green. He rolls around a little, not sure what to do, so he decides to get his book and go to the lounge.

What he doesn’t expect is someone else to be there.

Lance forgets about the book momentarily. “Shiro?”

Shiro is wrapped up in a blanket, watching the too-bright TV. “Oh, hey, Lance,” he says. “What’re you doing here?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Lance says. “What about you?”

Shiro gestures to the TV. “Couldn’t stand when I did sleep. I didn’t want to wake up Adam again.”

“Again?” 

“Nightmares,” Shiro says simply.  _ Of course.  _ “I wake him up too much. He says he doesn’t mind, but I feel bad about it anyway. So I came here.”

“He doesn’t mind, Shiro,” Lance says, despite having spoken to Adam only one or two times and not really knowing what he’s like.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Shiro says, holding up a hand. “I have no doubt that he really doesn’t mind.  _ I _ mind. I don’t like waking him up.”

It makes a surprising amount of sense. Lance feels something burning in the back of his mind. “Shiro,” he says hesitantly, waiting for him to answer.

“Yeah?”

“How did you... know?”

“Know he doesn’t mind?”

“Know you wanted him to be… a him,” Lance says awkwardly. 

And Shiro’s giving him a look that he really doesn’t know what to do with. “I just always knew,” Shiro says. “I didn’t fully understand it until I was 15 or so. But I always knew. I didn’t want to marry a girl. I told my parents I’d rather live with my best friend. Took me a while to realize that’s because my best friend would be a boy.”

“Oh.” Lance looks at the TV and reads a couple lines of captions. “Was it like that for Adam?”

“It took him significantly longer to come out,” Shiro says. “He’s bisexual, so he always figured he was straight, you know, because he likes girls.” 

Shiro says it lightly, but he’s giving Lance a look with his brow furrowed and Lance swallows heavily under the scrutiny.

“He likes both?” It must’ve been the lack of sleep, because that sound  _ right _ to Lance, for  _ no _ reason- “Is that… really a thing?” He hadn’t met any bi people at the Garrison, or really anywhere. 

Shiro looks like he’s trying to figure out how exactly to phrase it. “Yes. It’s a thing. And it’s a lot more common than you’d think.”

Lance taps his fingers on his wrist. “Okay.” He stands up and before he leaves, he says, “Do you remember Nadia Rizavi? She was in our piloting class. She’s dating Veronica now.”

And then he leaves, speed walking to his room, not sure why he felt the need to say that, eager to fall asleep.

  
  


It’s the weirdest feeling.

Now Lance was noticing every time Keith did  _ literally anything _ , because he was watching him do it. He was thinking about how attractive Keith was- before, it was like,  _ yeah, he’s attractive, obviously, but I’m not attracted  _ to _ him _ . 

Now it felt very much like he was attracted to him. Which was stupid, because he hadn’t been before, and the only thing that changed was the fact that Shiro told him Adam was bisexual. Which wasn’t even related to this, so why did it feel like such a big deal?

He felt abnormally happy when Keith laughed at something he said (he tried to chalk it up to making his friends happy, but it was different than when he made Allura or Hunk or Pidge laugh) and it’s just now that he’s hit by the realization he’s deliberately seeking out  _ Keith _ .

He’s standing in the middle of the hallway at midnight, frozen in his tracks, because ten seconds ago this was completely normal, to look for Keith because he’s bored, and now he’s standing frozen in the hallway in the middle of the night because why the  _ fuck  _ is he looking for Keith instead of Hunk or Pidge or Allura? It hadn’t even occurred to him to look for them, he immediately decided on Keith. 

_ He always figured he was straight, you know, because he likes girls.  _

_ But that’s not me, _ Lance thinks,  _ that’s someone else.  _ He isn’t bi, he isn’t into boys, he has  _ never _ even considered it before Shiro said Adam was bi so how could he possibly be bi? It’s like confirmation bias, or he’s making it up because he wants to be  _ special _ and part of a  _ community _ , he’s _ not  _ bisexual- wouldn’t he have thought of it earlier? Wouldn’t it have at least  _ crossed his mind _ ?

( _ Hasn’t it? _ something whispers in the back of his mind, and there’s Hunk because Hunk came out as pansexual in ninth grade.)

His legs start moving and he finds himself in front of Keith’s door anyway. It’s not that weird to ask him if he wants to do something, right? Sure, it’s midnight, but Keith is probably awake so it doesn’t  _ really _ matter.

He’s knocking before he has the chance to think about it.  _ Too loud _ , he thinks, softening the fourth knock.

Fifteen seconds later, Keith’s door opens, and he looks confused. “Lance?”

He has a bedhead and sweatpants and a T-shirt and socks on.  _ He definitely just woke up _ , Lance thinks, seeing the lights aren’t on.

“Um,” he says intelligently. “Were you sleeping?”

Keith doesn’t answer right away, just crosses his arms over his chest. Lance knows he’s thinking about lying. “Yes. But that doesn’t matter. Why are you here?”

“Do you want to do something?”

Keith blinks a couple times, raising his eyebrows like he can’t believe Lance is asking him. “Was Hunk busy?”

“No,” Lance says, and immediately regrets it. “I mean. I came here first.”

_ Friends say that to each other, right?  _ Hunk is really more Pidge’s best friend now, he and Keith are best friends, he’s allowed to have more than one best friend-

“I can’t believe I’m your first choice for fucking around at midnight,” Keith says, but then he’s smiling loosely, still a little tired but ready for whatever Lance wants to do. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know,” Lance says, and  _ now _ is when the anxiety starts to set in. “I just wanted to do something. I couldn’t sit in my room anymore.”

Keith is blank-faced, but Lance can tell he’s dissecting his words. Finally, he says, “Okay. We’ll find something, don’t worry.”

He grabs a sweatshirt off his bed that says  _ Galaxy Garrison _ . “Let’s go.”

It’s when Keith steps out without shoes that Lance realizes he’s only wearing socks, too.

  
  


“It’s a really bright pink.”

“Really?” Keith seems to be enjoying this, walking around the Garrison with Lance, looking for fun rooms to mess around in and leave. “What about Leandro?”

“Hm?” Lance feels caught off-guard.

“Leandro,” Keith repeats. “What color is it?”

Lance pauses. He laughs a little bit to himself. “Red. Really, really red. More saturated than your lion.”

“Nadia?”

“Yellow.”

“Iverson?”

“Brown, but also greenish-yellow? It’s hard to explain.” Lance opens a door on their right and gestures Keith inside. 

“This looks like a rec room,” Keith says, pointing at the air hockey table. “Oh, and there’s a TV. Like the lounge, but more… active, I guess.”

“Wanna play hockey?” Lance asks, walking over to the table and fumbling around for the buttons.

“No,” Keith says, wincing. “They’re too loud.”

“Pool?”

Keith looks like he thinks about it for a moment. “Okay,” he decides, and Lance whoops his  _ ass _ at pool.

After the third game, Keith says, “Well, I only lost by two balls that time.”

“A major improvement from six the first time,” Lance says teasingly.  _ Stop it. Stop it stop it stop it stop- _

Keith glares at him. “Shut up. Pool is hard.” He hops over the back of the couch and flops down in front of the TV, reaching for the remote. Lance walks around and sits on the other end of the couch, legs tucked up to his chest so Keith can stretch.

Keith doesn’t seem to notice Lance doing that, he’s just flipping through reruns of show from three years ago that Lance used to watch. They settle on a cartoon Lance liked,  _ She-Ra _ , and Lance only gets through one episode before he realizes his eyes are drooping heavily.

He glances at the clock on the wall- it’s 2:18 in the morning. 

“Keith,” he says, looking at the other end of the couch, falling silent right after. 

Keith is turned on his side and his arms are crossed in a way that looks uncomfortable. His eyes are closed, and he twitches here and there. He’s dead asleep and Lance does  _ not _ have the heart to wake him up.

_ He’s cute when he sleeps, _ Lance’s brain thinks without permission.

_ He’s cute all the time anyway _ , he thinks back, before stiffening and realizing just exactly what he thought. He looks at Keith one more time, feeling himself slide down against the armrest. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to touch legs, would it?

Lance can’t stop thinking of  _ every single time _ he’s thought Keith was  _ something _ \- only to now realize the word he was looking for was ‘cute.’

  
  


He wakes up slowly. 

Keith squints at the other end of the couch, where Lance is halfway curled up, one of his legs sticking out next to Keith’s. Keith takes the opportunity to admire him. 

He breathes deeply and looks around the rec room. There’s not much to do while he waits for Lance to wake up. A few minutes later, Lance is rolling around and opening his eyes, much faster than Keith did.

“Good morning,” Keith says, and he can’t help the dopey smile that makes its way onto his face.

“Hi,” Lance says, and he jerks his leg back up to himself. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to invade your personal space.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Keith mumbles, a little disappointed.

Lance cracks his neck and looks at the clock. “It’s only nine. I don’t think anyone’s missing us.”

“They might be missing  _ you _ ,” Keith says.

Lance furrows his eyebrows at that. “Nah,” he says. “I don’t think so. Veronica, maybe. Shiro’s probably looking for you. Adam, too.”

“Yeah. I missed Adam a lot,” Keith admits.

“I’m not surprised. Wasn’t he like, your other older brother?”

“I guess,” Keith says, wry smile on his lips. “We fucked with Shiro a lot before Kerberos. And I talked to him about dropping out. I think… I mean, I feel better now. After apologizing.”

“Apologizing?” Lance raises an eyebrow.

“I said I was sorry for dropping out and leaving him,” Keith says. “His fiance dies, and then his little brother gets booted and disappears. It’s a lot for a guy to take. I wish I hadn’t done that to him.”

“He’s taller than Shiro,” Lance says, and he blushes. “Sorry. I know you were talking about something serious. It’s just been on my mind.”

“He’s a little taller,” Keith says slowly, trying to figure out if Lance was messing with him or purposefully trying to change the subject. “I think that’s half the reason Shiro’s so  _ whipped _ .”

“What, is your man being taller a bonus?”

“Yeah,” Keith says, and he doesn’t realize he’s looking right at Lance unil it’s been a couple seconds. He gestures awkwardly towards the door. “Should we leave?”

Lance takes a moment to answer. “Yeah. Maybe something important is happening.”

  
  


They walk into the kitchen and Allura says, “Where the  _ quiznack _ have you two been?” She’s dressed in the redesigned paladin armor, black and gray with pink accents. 

“Uh,” Keith says, and Lance can see he’s internally panicking even though they hadn’t really done anything wrong, had they? Did Keith want to hide what they were doing?  _ Which wasn’t even anything, you guys weren’t doing anything that was suspicious. _

“Random room,” Lance says. “Playing pool. Why?”

“Did you forget we have a diplomacy meeting today?” Allura asks, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. “The President. Of the United States, Lance.”

“Right,” Lance says. “That guy.”

“She’s a woman.”

“Oh yeah,” Keith says. “There was an election while we were gone. Oops.”

“I can’t believe I missed the first year I could finally vote,” Lance says, turning to Keith and making a face.

“Well, while you two were off…  _ bonding _ ,” Allura says, looking frustrated because she can’t find a better word, “Coran and I were looking for you. So was Hunk. We are leaving in fifteen dobashes, Lance, and both of you are still in  _ sweatpants _ and  _ T-shirts _ !”

Lance purses his lips and shoves his hands in his pockets, rolling on his heel to his toes. “So, no breakfast?”

“You can eat in your lion.” Allura looks like she wants to stay angry, but Lance’s questions tugs a smile from her lips. “Go get on your paladin armor. It never hurts to be ready. And it’s just professional.”

With that, she leaves.

Lance claps Keith on the shoulder. “Well,” he says, “let’s find out who the president is.”

  
  


Keith isn’t paying attention to the meeting. Shiro can tell, Adam (who came as another Garrison delegate with Sam) can tell, and Lance can tell.

Lance keeps trying to kick him under the table subtly. Keith is ignoring him. It’s not on purpose, really, it’s just because he’s trying to force himself to pay attention to the president- a pretty Hispanic woman whose wife is next to her- whose name he already forgot because he was too busy watching her curls bounce.

He really can’t focus on anything- he’s not even sure why, although he has the sneaking suspicion it has to do with Lance sharing a couch with him. Which meant nothing, because he was pretty sure friends did it all the time.

He watches the cute little sprout on Lance’s head instead of the meeting. 

  
  


Later, Lance is sitting with him outside of Red. He’s sweaty because he made all of the paladins do another training exercise- Allura said they should because of how stressful the meeting was (which of course Keith hadn’t noticed, because he wasn’t listening to anything). 

“That was boring,” Lance says, leaning back and thumping his head against Red’s leg.

“You were the one who built the exercise.”

“I was talking about the meeting, and if you’re going to complain about the exercises then you should help me build them.”

“Oh,” Keith says, and he blushes a little, embarrassed. “Uh, sorry.”

“I’m just messing with you, Keith,” Lance says. “But it would be nice to have some help building them. I think Shiro is tired of it.”

“Okay.” Something in Keith’s chest blooms. “But it’s boring now, too. We’re not doing anything.”

“Do you  _ want _ to?”

“I always want to do something with you,” Keith says, and he feels like hitting himself. Who  _ says _ that?

Lance falters for all of one second. “Okay.  You wanna go to the town near here?”

“The town?” Keith can’t remember what it’s called. “Uh… sure. Any particular reason?”

“Hunk and Allura went the other day on a  _ date _ ,” Lance says, grinning. Keith doesn’t answer because what is Lance trying to  _ say _ ? How is he supposed to  _ decipher _ that?

“So,” he says, trying to ask without asking, “we’re going to town together?”

Lance makes a  _ face _ Keith can’t read and says, “Uh, for fun. A fun, friendly outing. You know?”

It stings more than Keith is willing to admit. “It’s about to be 9 o’clock at night.”

“Man, Keith, do you wanna go or not?”

“How are we gonna  _ get _ there?” Keith asks, exasperated. “We can’t exactly fire up the lions and take one!”

Lance sits up, his grin threatening to split his face. “I am  _ so _ glad you asked,” he says, and he stands up, reaching a hand down to help Keith up. “The Garrison has new models of hover bikes that go like, 140 miles per hour.” He starts walking quickly, tugging Keith along by the wrist. 

“We are  _ not _ driving hover bikes that fast,” Keith says. “Lions are one thing. Hover bikes are another.”

“Sounds like someone doesn’t want to race.”

“Are you  _ serious _ ? You’re trying to bait me into a race?” Keith stumbles over a ledge in a doorway. “We are not  _ 17 _ .”

“You were 18. And it’s working, isn’t it?” Lance starts punching in a code to the door in front of them.

“How did you even get that code?” Keith asks, because yeah, he  _ is _ a little tempted to race, and 140 miles an hour sounds exhilarating. “And how far away is… town?”

“New Lakeside is about 20 miles away,” Lance says, walking through the door. Keith looks around. There are at least a hundred hover bikes in here, and half of them look newly built. “So, at 140 miles an hour… we could be there in about 10 minutes.”

“We are  _ not _ going that fast!” Keith says hotly, glaring at Lance.

“So, what you’re telling me is, you’re going to lose the race?” Lance opens the garage door that takes up half the wall and arches an eyebrow. He pops a helmet on his head and holds one out to Keith, who accepts it. He hops on the closest hoverbike and powers it on, gesturing to the one next to his. Keith tightens the strap under his chin. “These helmets have mufflers, by the way, so the bikes won’t be so loud. There’s a microphone inside and we can talk to each other.”

Keith swings his leg over the seat and revs the engine. It’s definitely quieter than normal. He’s glad Lance thought of it. “I didn’t say I was gonna lose.”

Lance tilts his head towards the open door, and then he’s stepping on the gas and he’s  _ gone. _

Not one to be shown up, Keith floors it, watching the numbers quickly tick up to 90, where Lance seems to be staying. They’re right next to each other. Keith glances at Lance, who says, “New Lakeside is over this way, to the left.”

It’s strangely easy to hear him clearly. “All right,” Keith says, and he curves sharply, trying to get in front of Lance.

Lance starts speeding up again, and Keith is rushed with adrenaline, the gage reads 120 and Lance doesn’t look likes he’s slowing down.

_ Lance and Keith, _ Keith thinks, stupidly giddy,  _ neck and neck. _

But Keith doesn’t actually know where he’s going, so he’s fully relying on Lance. He can’t pull ahead without risking going the wrong direction. Lance looks back a couple times, but Keith suspects he’s thinking the same thing, because they stay at 130 for a couple minutes. 

Keith sees lights over the dunes in the distance, so he makes the decision to finally crank it to 140. Lance sees him edging up behind him and they’re  _ so _ close, and he’s amazed that he can hear Lance’s “you are  _ not _ beating me” but not the engine of the hoverbike.

Once they’ve slowed down and Lance has completely parked, Keith is sliding off the bike and pulling off his helmet and  _ laughing _ so hard because when was the last time he had that much  _ fun _ ? The last time he even went hoverbike racing was with Shiro  _ years _ ago, before Kerberos, before Voltron, before the Galra…

Keith puffs out another breath and says, “That was fun.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t a sore loser,” Lance says, one corner of his mouth curving up. 

Keith stares at him. “I  _ beat _ you!”

“I don’t think so,” Lance muses, looking at their bikes. “Yours is parked about five feet further than mine. So I win. Come on, let’s go, I want to explore the town! It might’ve changed in three years.”

Keith lets Lance pull him along, only weakly protesting against his loss, because he’s just a little too whipped to fight anything Lance says. 

  
  


It’s for that reason exactly they end up in a bar.

After Lance dragged him through a million gift shops and miscellaneous stores, he said, “Oh, wow, I could actually get in here now! I’m not so babyfaced anymore, right?”

(He was right. Lance had stubble. Keith thought it was unfairly attractive.)

Which is how they ended up sneaking in. Keith was 21, but Lance was still 20. Inside, Lance immediately sits down on a stool, patting the one next to him and talking to the bartender.

Keith sits down and leans forward on his elbows. “Are you getting drinks?” He asks. 

“Sure,” Lance says, smirking and pulling out his wallet. “Do you like… uh… beer?”

“Shots,” Keith says to the bartender. “Fireball.” She nods and starts pouring them out.

Lance blinks. “Um, are you sure-?”

“Unless you’re a lightweight.” Keith’s mouth quirks up. 

Lance scoffs. “I am  _ not- _ ”

The bartender sets down two shots and says, “Enjoy, handsome,” to Lance, who looks momentarily confused. Her flirtation annoys Keith, and because he’s impulsive and stupid and brash he reaches out and downs the first shot within three seconds.

He coughs. “Your turn.”

Lance looks hesitant, but something about Keith’s smirk must set him off because he downs it and asks for two more.

“You have to let me pay you back,” Keith says, just barely tripping over words.

“It’s on me,” Lance replies. “I wouldn’t make the loser pay for this.”

“Loser my  _ ass _ .” Keith picks up another shot.

Five shots later, Keith remembers they have to drive the hover bikes back to the Garrison.

“Lance,” he says, as Lance tells the bartender to pour their seventh shots, “Lance, we have… we have to drive.”

“Huh?”

“We,” Keith slurs, gesturing between the two of them, “have to drive. The bikes, Lance.”

Lance frowns. “That’s okay. We can wait. Until it’s gone.”

“It’s 12,” Keith says.

“Oh,” Lance says, looking down at the shot glass in his hand. “Should she take these back?”

“Don’ be stupid,” Keith says, taking his shot and swallowing it quickly. ( _ Bad idea. That was a bad idea _ .) “Okay. We just have to walk… wait until we can drive.”

“Wait?” Lance is still looking at his shot warily, so Keith flicks him.

“We’re lightweights,” he says, and Lance glares at him as he takes the shot. 

“Seven shots isn’ for lightweights.” He pulls a wad of cash out of his pocket and leaves it on the bar counter. Lance stands up, a little too quickly, and they stumble their way out to the bikes, which are behind a convenience store that looks closed. 

They’re leaned against the wall. Keith doesn’t remember walking out here and thinks he’s about to fall asleep. “Lance,” he says. 

“Yeah?”

“We should call Shiro.”

“Unghh,” Lance groans, leaning forward until his forehead touches the ground. He pops back up and shakes his head. “Yeah. Okay.”

“Do you have your… phone thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Call him.”

“Yeah,” Lance says, pulling it out. They stare at the screen together, Lance scrolling down the contacts and pressing Shiro’s name with an “aha!”

Shiro answers quickly enough. “Lance? Do you need something? Adam and I were about to go to bed.”

“Yes.” Lance is looking at the screen blearily. 

There’s silence on the other end. “And that something would be…?”

“We nee’ a ride, Cheerio,” Keith says, leaning so his mouth is closer to the receiver.

He thinks he hears a muffled curse over the other end of the phone and suppresses a giggle. “Okay. I’m coming. Adam is, too. Where are you?”

“Uh,” Lance says, spinning his head around. “New Lakeside. Peter’s Pharmacy.”

“Jesus Christ,” Shiro sighs, but then he says “See you in ten,” and the line goes dead.

“Damn,” Lance says.

“He’s a 27 year old dad,” Keith says. He pauses thoughtfully. “Brother. To, like, six idiots.”

“Romelle? Allura?”

“Four and a half idiots,” Keith amends.

He’s not really sure what either of them say for the next ten minutes. They’re both talking just to talk, really. 

“Did you call him Cheerio?”

“Yeah.”

Then Lance says, “Uh oh.”

Keith squints at the headlights of a car quickly approaching them. “Uh oh,” he agrees, watching the passenger car door open and seeing Shiro walking towards them.

“You,” Shiro says, pointing at Lance, “are 20 years old.”

“Don’t be like that, Shiro. Live a little!” Lance coughs. “We snuck in.”

“No doubt,” Shiro says, holding out his hands and helping haul the two of them to their feet. “Come on. Get in the back. We’re coming out here tomorrow to retrieve the hoverbikes, too, before Iverson or Sanda notices they’re gone.”

“Early?”

“Early,” Shiro says, shooting Keith a glare. 

“Sorry, Shiro,” Keith says, stumbling in the back seat. Lance gets in too quickly, fumbling against Keith and eventually finding his seat belt.

“I’m going to reprimand you tomorrow, and it’s gonna be a lot worse than it is right now,” Shiro says, pointing a finger at Keith. 

“Fuck.”

“Keith!” This time, it’s Adam’s voice.

“Shh,” Lance says, holding out his hands. “Everyone. Let’s sing a song.”

“Let’s not,” Adam says. “Buckled?”

“Yeah,” Lance says, and Keith snaps his strap a couple times to make his point.

“Okay,” Shiro says, and he sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Let’s go, then.”

  
  


Lance tells himself to stop thinking about how happy Keith looks and how he doesn’t think Keith has ever looked more attractive.

But there’s Keith, two feet away from him, high and smiling and laughing at every stupid thing he says. He knows Shiro and Adam are in the front seat, and this definitely isn’t the best first impression for Adam, but he doesn’t really care if Keith keeps making those cute faces.

_ Stop it. Stop it! _

_ Keith isn’t cute. He’s just Keith, _ Lance thinks, and now that he’s wildly focused on the fact that Adam,  _ bisexual Adam _ , was in the front seat and  _ he _ thought he was straight, too, except the  _ difference _ was that Adam actually was bi and Lance is just confused, and a little drunk right now, because he knew he liked girls and he had  _ never thought of boys romantically before Keith- _

Keith laughs at something. Lance doesn’t think he’s said anything, but he smiles anyway, because Keith is  _ insanely _ beautiful when he laughs.

_ STOP IT- _

Shiro and Adam let Keith and Lance go down their hallway, not bothering to walk them to their rooms. Shiro pats Lance on the shoulder tiredly. “Get some sleep, okay, guys?” He asks, and Lance nods.

Keith links arms with Lance and he tries to not freak out about it. (Why would he?) Keith is humming something under his breath, and it sounds awfully out of tune and off beat but Lance thinks it’s endearing.

They stop outside Lance’s door, and Keith says, “My room is so far away.” He sounds almost  _ distraught _ .

He turns on his heel to start his journey, but Lance blurts, “Just sleep in here.”

“Huh?”

_ Shut up shut up shut up shutupshutupSHUT UP! _ “Sleep in my room,” Lance says, holding open his door. “These beds are really big.”

“Okay,” Keith agrees, and Lance is so thankful he didn’t make it weird. “Wait.”

“Yeah?” Lance feels like he’s going to break into a sweat.

“I need… I need to take off my binder,” Keith mumbles. “Turn around.”

Lance gets in the bed and flips over so his back is facing Keith. “Okay.”

A minute or so later, Keith is on the other side of the bed, under the covers with Lance.

It’s when his head hits the pillow he remembers Alya from their ninth grade math class at the Garrison. Hunk had a thing for her, and she seemed to like him too. Lance had a crush on her. He thought her name was a pretty brownish-red. Hunk didn’t know, obviously, because Lance wasn’t going to stand in their way. 

Lance remembers the odd satisfaction he felt when Alya started dating Thomas, which he shouldn’t have felt if he had a crush on her. He remembers how Hunk seemed disappointed, but not terribly upset, and Lance remembers how happy he was to learn Hunk  _ didn’t _ actually have that much of a crush on her. He was happy about that because it meant his best friend wasn’t heartbroken or even that upset.

It’s just now, in this moment, in this bed he’s sharing with a drunk, passed-out Keith, that he realizes it wasn’t Alya he had a crush on.

  
  


Lance wakes up to banging on his door. The other side of the bed is empty. He tries to ignore how upset it makes him. “What the hell?” He had a slight headache, but other than that, he feels fine. He never got bad hangovers.

“What?” He yells, rolling out of bed and opening the door. “What do you  _ want- _ ”

“Dude,” Hunk says, rubbing his forehead. Then he covers his mouth with his hand and snorts. “Shiro told us what you guys did last night.”

“Don’t phrase it like that!” Lance squawks, flushing. His drunken revelation about Alya comes to mind.  _ He always figured he was straight, you know, because he likes girls. _ “We didn’t  _ do _ anything, we just took shots… a lot of shots.”

“Why isn’t Keith in his room?” Hunk sounds smug.

“He’s not in my  _ bed _ , either, so don’t get any ideas-”

Lance is interrupted by a hacking cough and what sounds suspiciously like someone vomiting. Both of them look at the bathroom door in Lance’s room. Hunk raises an eyebrow. “I know you didn’t make him sleep on the floor.”

“I’m not a monster,” Lance grumbles, and they walk over to open the bathroom door. Keith is sitting on the floor, legs on either side of the toilet, leaning against the wall. 

He looks at them warily. “Hey,” he croaks.

“ _ Someone _ can’t hold their liquor,” Lance says. “You okay there, Samurai?”

“I’m fine.”

“There’s waffles in the kitchen,” Hunk says. “I’ll leave you two to… do whatever you’re gonna do.” He gives Lance a two-finger salute and leaves the room.

Lance watches him leave, unable to think about anything  _ except _ Alya. And Hunk. And Keith.

“How are  _ you _ , Sharpshooter?” Keith asks, wiping his mouth with toilet paper and flushing. “Coherent again?”

“If anyone was slurring, it was definitely you.” Pause. “I’m good. Just a headache.” It’s a little hard to focus on talking and the words in his head-  _ he always figured he was straight, you know, because he likes girls. _

“Lucky,” Keith mutters, and he leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. “I’ve been up for two hours. Just throwing up.”

“Yikes. Sorry for dragging you out there.”

“It didn’t take me much convincing.” Keith presses his palms into his eyes. “We have to go get the bikes, don’t we? Before Iverson or Sanda notices. Shiro said.”

“Yeah,” Lance says, leaning against the sink. He can’t really hold a conversation right now because he’s still thinking about every single interaction he had with Hunk in ninth grade and holy  _ shit _ he did everything he would do with a girl he liked to Hunk. Did Hunk know? Hunk’s gaydar wasn’t that great, so  _ maybe _ it all went over his head, but-

“Are you sure you’re good?” Keith frowned. “You look really spaced out.”

Lance stares at him. “I’m good. I’m gonna go get some of those waffles. Are you- do you wanna come?”

Keith frowns and glances at the toilet. “I think I’m good for now.”

“Okay. Your binder is still in there, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Keith mutters, standing up. He goes in Lance’s room to put it on, and Lance washes his face while he waits. A minute or so later, he walks back in the room and says, “Ready?”

“So,” Lance says while they walk. “Fun night, huh?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t flirt with the bartender,” Keith says, rolling his eyes. His voice sounds stiff.

Lance blinks. It hadn’t even occurred to him to flirt with her. He’d been way more focused on having fun with Keith. Which was… something. His stomach turns. “Oh. Well, you know. Gotta take a break, you know?”

“Sure,” Keith says. “I hope Adam and Shiro aren’t mad at me.”

“Wouldn’t they be more mad at me? I’m the one who had the idea to steal the bikes in the first place.”

“Yeah, but they’re my… Shiro’s my older brother and Adam is his fiance. I can guarantee you they’re more ticked with me than you.” 

“If you say so,” Lance grumbles. Keith only eats one plain waffle and Lance eats two chocolate chip ones. Hunk and Allura are on the lounge couch together.

Hunk is leaned against the armrest and Allura has her back against his arm, reading something- Lance thinks it’s a historical novel. Romelle comes in a minute or so later and says, “Hello, Allura, hi, Hunk.”

“Hey,” Hunk says. “Are Shiro and Coran up?”

“No,” she says. “I don’t know if we’re doing more… war things today. I know the pilots are, but not the entire team.”

“What are we doing today?” Keith asks, putting his plate in the dishwasher. 

“Coran said he wanted you guys to do more training drills at the castle, maybe fly around your lions a bit.”

“Sounds fun,” Hunk says. “Are you gonna come?”

“I’ve been trying to help Shiro and Coran with diplomacy things, actually,” Romelle answers, “but I may join you for the on-foot combat training, just so I can learn to take care of myself.”

“I can help you,” Allura offers.

Lance looks back at Keith and he smiles because Keith’s bedhead is  _ adorable _ and he wants to kick himself for thinking that, but he can’t help it. “You got a little… right there.” He taps the corner of his own mouth.

“Oh,” Keith says, and he turns a little pink, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “Thanks, Lance.”

“No problem,” Lance says, and he turns back to the other three. Hunk looks like a combination of annoyed and confused. “What?”

“Nothing,” Hunk says quickly. “Go back to doing whatever you were doing with Keith.”

Lance frowns. “Okay.” He decides not to read into it- he’s not sure he can afford to.

 

Shiro is on the couch again that night.

Lance didn’t want to take up too much of Keith’s time- he didn’t want to bother him. When he, Pidge, and Hunk had been in the workshop, the other two kept sending him glances he didn’t like. He wondered if Hunk had  _ somehow _ found out about the crush, which Lance was positive was gone because he didn’t feel jealous of Allura at all.

“Hey, Shiro.”

“Lance.” Shiro turns and cracks his back. “I see you have insomnia again.”

“Tends to happen when your dreams are full of people dying.” Lance let out a breath and sat down next to Shiro. The TV was on, but it was paused. “Can I tell you something?”

“Does it have to do with drinking?”

“ _ No _ ,” Lance says heatedly, but the fire is out when he sees the teasing look in Shiro’s eye. 

“I’m not mad about that, Lance, really,” Shiro says wryly. “You started risking your life to fight in a war when you were 17, Lance. You almost died the first week we were there when you saved Coran. You don’t have to wait until you’re 21 to drink. I was only upset because you guys were off Garrison property and so out of it you were vulnerable. But not angry.” A moment passes while Shiro lets that sink in. “And neither was Adam.”

Right.  _ Adam _ . 

Lance clears his throat. “Shiro? Can I ask you something?”

“Always,” Shiro says simply. 

“Remember when you said- when you told me- you said Adam… liked boys. And girls. Right?”

Shiro keeps his face neutral. “Yes. He’s bi.”

“Yeah,” Lance says, and he can’t look Shiro in the eyes anymore, so he slouches and looks at the TV stand. “It’s common?”

“Well, more common than people think.” 

Lance can’t tell what Shiro is thinking, but it doesn’t really  _ matter _ because there’s no one else to talk to about this except Adam, but he doesn’t know Adam that well, and he  _ wants _ to talk to Shiro but why is this so  _ hard _ ? He  _ knows _ Shiro won’t look at him differently, he  _ knows _ Shiro is gay, he  _ knows _ Shiro is someone he can trust who won’t judge him so  _ why _ is it still  _ so fucking hard _ ?

“I had a crush on someone.” Lance presses his lips together. He forces the words out before he can lose his nerve. “I think I liked Hunk. When I was 15.”

His voice is tight and he’s impressed with how steady it sounds. 

Shiro says, “Okay. I’m assuming you don’t anymore.”

“No.” Lance folds his hands together in his lap. There’s a lump the size of a tennis ball in his throat and his heart rate skyrockets. He rubs his thumb on top of the other one, anxiously bouncing his leg and unconsciously hunching his shoulders. This is what he’s leading up to, isn’t it? This is who he wants to tell. This is the only person he completely trusts. He takes a steadying breath and thinks the words before he says them, practicing. Carefully, he says,

“I think I do on someone else, though.” 

“And that would be…?”

Shiro’s voice is impossibly gentle, and Lance feels like an  _ idiot _ because Shiro isn’t stupid and he knows, there’s no way he doesn’t-

He can’t look Shiro in the eyes. “Don’t you already know?”

Shiro doesn’t answer for a moment. “Maybe,” Shiro admits. “You’re not quite as subtle as you think. But I’m not sure. You don’t have to tell me, Lance, I don’t want to force you to-”

“I like Keith,” Lance says, and it feels like a rush because he  _ said _ it out loud and he can’t take those words back, they’re too far gone and Shiro’s eyebrows are raised and Shiro  _ knows _ . Of course he knows. Hunk and Pidge probably do, too, and Lance keeps his eyes downcast because the idea of seeing Shiro’s expression right now makes him want to puke all over his socks.

“Are you going to tell him?” Shiro’s voice is even. The confession isn’t a surprise at all.

Lance twists his fingers together, glaring at them. “I don’t know.” He cracks his index finger. “I don’t know  _ how _ . It’s scary, because with Nyma and Plaxum it was like I didn’t know them, so I couldn’t embarrass myself, but he knows me and he has for  _ years _ and god, Shiro, it might have started back in the Garrison when he was placed first in the fucking pilot simulator!”

Shiro stays quiet for a moment. “That’s a long time.”

“I know,” Lance says. “How would I…” He hesitates. “How should I go about telling him?  _ If _ I tell him,” he adds quickly. 

Shiro shrugs good-naturedly and smiles a little. “I’m not Keith,” he says. “But if you tell him, you should do it when it’s just the two of you. It takes the pressure off of him. And maybe after you’re already sure he’s in a good mood.”

“No other fantastic advice?”

“I told Adam I liked him in our dorm after he came out of the bathroom,” Shiro deadpans. “I’m not exactly the best romanticist to ask for advice. But look how it turned out with me and Adam.”

Somehow, that makes him feel better. “Thanks, Shiro.”

“Anytime,” he says, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the sofa, and Lance knows he means it.

  
  


**Past**

Lance tapped his foot against the table leg.

“Can you quit it?” James snapped.

“Sorry,” Lance muttered, and he hunched over his copy of  _ The Odyssey. _ “I forgot I was doing it.”

“Well, quit forgetting,” James said, folding the corner of his page and closing his book. Lance saw Hunk frown- folding corners for bookmarks was one of his pet peeves. “It’s annoying.”

“Lay off him, James,” Hunk said. “Go ask Steele to change your group if you can’t stand it so much.”

“Or he could just quit tapping his fucking foot,” James said, glaring at Hunk. 

“Dude,” Hunk said, letting his book fall on the table with a  _ thunk _ . “Fuck  _ off _ .”

It was times like this Lance was grateful for Hunk’s friendship. He didn’t take people’s shit, even if he was a little more nervous behind a joystick. 

“Whatever,” James scoffed, and he turned away.

  
  


“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather partner with Lacey?”

“What?” Lance turned to look at Hunk. He had just sat down next to him after their instructor told them to find partners for their busy work that day. 

Hunk nodded towards the girl in the front row. “Uh, Lacey? The girl you’re head over heels for?”

Lance glanced towards her. She had been looking at him, but Joey sat next to her before he could even think about getting up. “Oh. I didn’t really think about it.”

Hunk raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t think about it?”

Lance flushed. He really hadn’t thought about it- Hunk was the first person he thought of when the instructor told them to find someone. “I mean, you’re my best friend. I’d just rather work with you than her.”

Hunk shrugged. “Okay. If you say so.”

  
  


“Okay, fuck, marry, kill,” Lance said, feet propped up high on the wall and laying on his back, “Christina,  Alya, me.”

“Why you?”

“Cause it’ll make it harder!” Lance said, twisting his back to look over the edge of the bed at Hunk, who was lying on the floor. 

“Can we make it kiss, marry, and like, disown? I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Fine,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “Under the assumption that whoever you marry, you kiss them a lot.”

“Okay,” Hunk said, and he took a moment to think about it. “Okay. Disown Christina, kiss you, marry Alya.”

“You wouldn’t marry me?” Lance felt… well, he didn’t know what he was feeling. Something negative.

“I mean, I don’t think you’d  _ want _ to be married to me,” Hunk said. “You’re straight.”

“I guess,” Lance said, shrugging, smiling. “Still. Cuts deep.”

“Whatever, dude,” Hunk said, rolling his eyes and laughing. He gave Lance another three people.

  
  


**Present**

Lance presses his palms to his eyelids.

“Idiot,” he mumbles. “You fucking idiot.”

He sits straight up.  _ Should I tell Hunk? _ Maybe telling him would help him get over his fear of telling  _ Keith _ . And it’d be much easier than confessing to Keith- he didn’t have  _ romantic _ feelings for Hunk anymore, obviously.

He resolves to tell Keith. He thinks Shiro would be proud of him for that, whether Keith feels the same or not. He’s not sure where or how or what he’s going to say, but he  _ will _ say something.

_ I should practice, _ he thinks. Out loud, he says, “I like you.”

He purses his lips.  _ Maybe not. _ He feels like a huge dork, but he clears his throat and says, “I really like you, Keith.”

_ Better.  _ Satisfied, he turns on his side and buries his face in his pillow. He falls asleep thinking of Keith’s name. He falls asleep to blue streaks and gold splotches.

 

He doesn’t have the slightest idea how to tell Keith.

The next three days, he tries to think of ways he could tell Keith that would result in the  _ least _ amount of embarrassment if- when?- Keith rejects him. 

He can’t do it when it’s only them in the lounge because someone might walk in. He can’t do it after a meeting in the conference room because Keith is already stressed about the Galra ships detected approaching the Milky Way, he can’t do that to him right then. He can’t bring it up when they’re in the kitchen because they’re having fun and he doesn’t want to  _ ruin _ it with making Keith feel awkward.

Hunk can tell he’s distracted while they’re training in the castle with Romelle and Allura. (Romelle wants to learn how to defend herself, so Allura offered to spar and train her.) He doesn’t say anything, but he raises his eyebrows when Lance makes little mistakes.

They’re taking a break in the kitchen when Hunk finally confronts him about it. “Lance, are you okay? You seem really out of it.”

“Just high-strung about the Galra,” Lance says tightly. (One half-Galra in particular.)

“If you say so,” Hunk says, clearly not believing him, but not pushing it, either. 

“Yup!” Lance opens the trash can and throws his water pouch in it. “Well, that was fun. Who wants to go finish training?”

“I wanted to do other things today,” Pidge says. “You can be a responsible leader and finish it yourself, though.”

Romelle laughs. “I’m exhausted. I think I pulled a couple muscles in there.”

“Oh, I can help you relax,” Hunk says. “My mom was a massage therapist. She taught me a lot of stuff.”

“That sounds fun,” Allura says. “Katie? Do you want to come?”

“I have nothing better to do while I procrastinate actual work,” Pidge says, hopping down from a stool. “Hey, can I braid your hair?”

“Of course,” Allura says, and the four of them leave Keith and Lance alone in the kitchen.

“Well,” Keith says. 

“Do  _ you _ want to finish the exercise?” Lance asks. “You know. You’re the training freak, aren’t you?”

“Sure,” Keith answers. He puts his dishes in the dishwasher and stretches. “Let’s go, then.”

Lance isn’t really sure what he rambles about while they walk back to the training deck.  _ This could be the moment. This could be it. _

A few minutes later, he blocks one of Keith’s strikes and actually gets the blade by his neck. “Checkmate,” Lance says, grinning.

“Careful,” Keith warns, eyeing the broadsword.

“They’re set to dull for a reason,” Lance says. He’s barely in the ready position when Keith pounces, obviously upset about having lost to Lance so quickly (which was happening more and more often, much to Lance’s pleasure). 

They spar only a couple more rounds. Keith flops on the ground, arms spread and chest heaving. “You’ve gotten a lot better, you know.”

“You probably have, too.”

“Well, yeah,” Keith says, propping himself on his elbows. “But you’ve gotten… insanely good. Really fast.”

Lance sits down and leans on his right palm, resting his left arm on the knee he’s pulled towards his chest. “Thanks, Keith.” He clears his throat.  _ Now or never. _ How many more opportunities would he get like this?

“Hey,” he says, looking away. “Do you… Can I say something?”

“It’s not like I can stop you,” Keith says.

“Okay.” Lance hugs his knees to his chest. “Well, two things, really. First- jeez, this is a lot harder with you than it was with Shiro.”

“Shiro?” Keith inhales sharply. “What does this have to do with Shiro?”

“He’s the first one I told,” Lance says. His heartbeat feels thick and heavy. 

“Told what?” Keith’s eyes narrow. Lance feels a little insulted by his suspicious expression, but he doesn’t really blame him.

“I think… well, I guess now I know that I’m… I mean, I like girls, you know? But also, you know, I think I like… boys.”

Keith’s face is completely blank. He blinks a couple times, slowly, and says, “You’re bisexual?”

“I guess that’s the word for it,” Lance says weakly.  _ Tell him tell him tell him TELL HIM TELL HIM- _

“It’s not a dirty word, Lance,” Keith says,  sounding like an impossible combination of exasperated, flat, and gentle. “You can say it, you know.”

_ But it’s hard, _ he wants to say.  _ It’s so hard. I know it’s okay and I know you and the others would never judge me but it’s  _ hard _ to say out loud.  _

“I’m bisexual,” Lance whispers.

Keith smiles. “There you go.”

Lance’s shoulders release tension he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Keith’s easy demeanor gives him a confidence boost. 

“And I made this realization because of, you know, someone.”

Keith’s face goes back to its neutral state. Lance isn’t sure how to feel about that. “Okay. Do I know them?”

“Yes,” Lance says. He chuckles shortly. “I mean, you probably know him better than anyone else.”

Keith stares at him.  _ “Shiro?” _

“Wha-? No!” Lance flushes. “No. Not Shiro. He’s-”

“Hunk?”

“ _ No _ ,” Lance grits, because Keith is making this harder than it needs to be and it’s not on purpose so he’s not  _ really _ mad but it was hard enough when Keith wasn’t guessing. “No, Keith, he’s not Hunk or Shiro.”

“So…?”

“Jesus Christ,” Lance groans, covering his face with his hands. His heart drops to his stomach. He runs through his next line a couple of times before saying it out loud. “I have a gigantic fucking  _ crush _ on you, okay? And it’s so stupid because I am 20 years old and I can barely force myself to say it but I do.”

Keith’s face is bright red. He narrows his eyes and scrunches his eyebrows. His arms cross. Lance stands up to leave- Keith doesn’t look happy, he has to  _ leave _ -

“Is this a  _ joke _ ?”

“I- no, Keith, it’s not a  _ joke _ !” Lance hates the way his voice pitches. “God, I just- I do, you know? I’ll leave. It’s fine, and I’m sorry I made things  _ weird- _ ”

“Don’t,” Keith says, and he’s standing up and Lance is face to face with him. “You’re being serious?”

“I don’t know how else to convey that,” Lance says, exasperated. “Yes, Keith. I’m being completely sincere. I  _ like _ you.”

Keith’s lips are pressed tightly together. “Oh.”

“Thanks for that,” Lance says dryly. He steps to the side to walk past him. 

“Don’t leave,” Keith says. He looks frustrated. “You know I’m bad with… this stuff. It’s hard to tell when someone’s lying or messing around or being sincere. And it’s hard to let people know how I’m feeling unless I flat out say it.”

“What is  _ that _ supposed to mean?” Lance tries not to sound too hopeful.

“It means I… feel the same way,” Keith says, rubbing the back of his neck, looking towards the wall instead of Lance. “I have for a long time, actually. I thought you’d caught on and you just pretended you hadn’t. To make me feel better.”

“No, I never had any fucking idea! That would’ve made this so much easier!”

“So, I was your little bisexual awakening?” Keith has a half-smirk on his lips.

“Well, I guess Hunk was, technically.” Lance smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. “I had a crush on him five years ago. But I didn’t realize it until I was thinking about  _ you _ … like that.”

“Like that,” Keith repeats.

“Romantically,” Lance clarifies. He rocks from his heel to his toe. “So, how are you feeling about all of this? Flat out say it?”

“I’ve never been in a relationship before,” Keith admits. “I don’t really know the protocol.”

“Oh, that’s cute,” Lance says before he can stop himself. “So, you’ve never been kissed, either?”

Keith’s eyebrows draw together like he’s trying to figure out if Lance is teasing him. “No, I haven’t.”

Lance is still high on adrenaline. That’s the only explanation for the stupid words coming out of his mouth, straight past his filter. “Do you want to?”

“Right now?”

Lance steps forward and grins. “Why not?”

“I’m sweaty. You’re sweaty. We both need showers.”

“If your breath doesn’t stink, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like I’m gonna stick my tongue down your throat.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“You say that now,” Lance says, shrugging, smiling a little playfully. His expression turns serious again. “So. Can I?”

Keith glances at Lance’s lips. “Yeah.”

He leans forward and Keith lets his eyes close. It’s slow, and nice, and sweet, and Lance thinks it’s a pretty good first kiss. Keith isn’t even a terrible kisser. 

Lance pulls away. “So. Did I blow your mind?”

“You enjoyed it just as much!” Keith protests, blushing. 

“Relax,” Lance says, holding back laughter, “I’m just teasing you.” He laces their fingers together. “A month ago I didn’t even know I liked boys.”

“How recent was  _ that _ revelation?”

“Maybe four days ago,” Lance says, shrugging. “It made me realize what I was  _ actually _ feeling when it came to you.”

“Romantic,” Keith says dryly. He stares down at their hands. “So… hand holding?”

“It’s pretty high on the list of things couples do,” Lance says, walking with Keith down the castle’s hallway. 

“We’re a couple?”

Lance stiffens. “Aren’t we?” He asks, suddenly anxious.

Keith gives his hand a tiny squeeze and smiles. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Happy to hear it, Samurai,” Lance says, and he kisses Keith on the cheek before they set off to do something else that day.

  
  
  


Lance is lying on his back in bed. Keith is on him like a sloth. His nose in buried in Lance’s neck and Lance has his arms wrapped around under Keith’s arms so he can trace patterns on Keith’s back. Occasionally, Keith lets out a little huff of air and shifts so Lance can tangle his fingers in his hair. 

It’s domestic.

“Hey,” Lance whispers.

“What?” Keith groans, lifting up his head a little so he can look Lance in the eyes.

“I love you,” Lance says cheekily. 

Keith blinks and then smiles softly. And even though he struggles to say it out loud- Lance knows this, and it makes it a thousand times more special when he does- Keith leans down and whispers against his lips, “I love you, too.”

Lance kisses him. He feels happier than he has in a long, long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> art i drew for this fic: https://bhunked.tumblr.com/post/177359994004/have-some-art-for-my-upcoming-fic
> 
> my main tumblr always changes because i love using all my urls, but i always rb to my main from bhunked so you can find it in the notes, usually the first rb skdjfh


End file.
